The sports medicine service of Liège CHU and Liège University have officially been awarded the label "FIFA medical centre of excellence" by Dr Michel d’Hooghe, the President of the medical commission of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA). After Roulers, Liège is the second Belgian centre to be recognised by FIFA and, thus, joins the very select club of 40 centres of this type in the world, alongside other prestigious centres such as Aspetar (Qatar), Clairefontaine, Lyon, Munich, Rome, Sao Paulo and New York, and even the medical service of FC Barcelona!
It was after a very detailed evaluation of the competences brought together at SportS2 and the Laboratory of Human Motion Analysis (LAMH) that FIFA decided to integrate Liège's university structures into its global network of medical centres of excellence.
"This award is not easy to obtain", explained Dr Michel D’Hooghe, President of FIFA's medical commission. "The medical centre must be competent in several fields: quality of care provided for football and athletics patients, excellence in teaching and research assignments, proven collaboration with top level sports clubs, and compliance with FIFA's medical strategy."
SportS2, an acronym for "Service Pluridisciplinaire Orthopédie, Rééducation, Traumatologie, Santé du Sportif" (Multidisciplinary Orthopedic, Physiotherapy, Traumatology, Health Service for Athletes) brings together doctors, researchers and paramedical staff at the Liège CHU specialising in sport and its pathologies, the prevention of injuries, return-to-sport programmes and the optimisation of sports performance. The LAMH is a common structure of the University of Liège's Faculties of Medicine and Applied Science which studies human motion and gestures with a view to application in the fields of medicine, biomechanics, ergonomics, sport, etc.
According to Dr Jean-François Kaux, who coordinates SportsS2: "Of course, being part of this network of excellence in sports research is a recognition of our competences, but, above all, it is a great incentive for maintaining our leading position on a clinical and scientific level."
"The FIFA label will bring us even more credibility among the sporting elite of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, all disciplines combined, and will allow us to develop our cooperation with top-level sports cubs and not only for football."
"It should also be highlighted that our work among top-level athletes allows us to ensure that amateur and leisure athletes benefit from the same quality of care."